1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to air flow louver units and more particularly to a novel louver unit that provides a full range of air control directions in incremental steps from fully opened to fully closed, by means of a novel flap extension on the rotary blade that suppots the directional vanes.
2. Statement of the Prior Art
The prior art discloses air conditioners with louver units that employ a series of circular or elliptical vanes. Typical, but not exclusively representative of this type of prior art are the patents to A. P. Cary, U.S. Pat. No. 3,683,787, to R. C. First, U.S. Pat. No. 3,252,398, to W. G. Crowle, et al, U.S. Pat. No. 2,853,935, and to Peter Katz, U.S. Pat. No. 2,864,301, and the reference patents cited in the foregoing identified patents. These and other louver units now in use have a similar construction, but only a few of the prior art louvers attempt to obtain a fully shut off condition, combined with a full range of air control by incremental steps. The principal patent that shows a complete shut off condition is one inventor's prior U.S. Pat. No. 3,683,787, which accomplishes this result by the inclusion of an open sided box structure that surrounds the rotary vane assembly of that invention. The drawback to that prior invention was that it required a separate operable part to surround the vane assembly for the sole purpose of providing a complete shut off, whereas the instant invention includes its sealing means as an integral part of the vane assembly, per se', thus eliminating a major part, and providing a simpler, less expensive, and more efficient unit than is found in the prior art.